Lamentations 3:9

9 he has blocked my ways with hewn stones, he has made my paths crooked.

Lamentations 3:9 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 3:9

He hath enclosed my ways with hewn stone
Not with a hedge of thorns, or mud walls, but with a fence of stones; and these not rough, and laid loosely together, but hewn and put in order, and well cemented. The Targum is, with marble hewn stones, which are harder than common stones, and not so easily demolished; this may respect the case of the prophet in prison, and in the dungeon, and in Jerusalem, when besieged; or in general his afflictive state, from whence he had no prospect of deliverance; or the state of the Jews in captivity, from which there was no likelihood of a release; he hath made my paths crooked;
or, "perverted my ways" F8; so that he could not find his way out, when he attempted it; he got into a way which led him wrong; everything went cross and against him, and all his measures were disconcerted, and his designs defeated; no one step he took prospered.


FOOTNOTES:

F8 (hwe ytbytn) "semitas meas pervertit", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus, Calvin; "contorsit", Michealis.

Lamentations 3:9 In-Context

7 He has walled me about so that I cannot escape; he has put heavy chains on me;
8 though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer;
9 he has blocked my ways with hewn stones, he has made my paths crooked.
10 He is a bear lying in wait for me, a lion in hiding;
11 he led me off my way and tore me to pieces; he has made me desolate;
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.